The money will be paid out over 20 years in annual checks of $273,000 after 20 percent federal taxes and 4 percent state taxes are taken out, she said.

The winning ticket was bought at Salem Food Mart in Virginia Beach, she said.

That ticket was sold at about 2 p.m. Saturday, said Roger Stewart, an employee of the store. Stewart said the store sold about $1,400 dollars worth of tickets that day.

Excitement was high at the store Sunday morning after word got out that the winning ticket had been purchased there.

Stewart said store owner Claude Taylor was working when the news came in from Lottery officials at about 7:30 a.m.

Television camera crews have been in and out of the store filming and interviewing customers throughout the day, while regular customers milled around trying to guess who was holding the winning ticket.

Lottery officials do not know who the winner is, Otto said. The ticket receipts, which do not have to be signed, are logged into a computer in Richmond.

"The person who's holding this winning ticket should either call the regional office closest to them or the main office in Richmond to make arrangements to come in and have their ticket validated and receive their first check," she said.

The Salem Food Mart is one of two convenience stores within 100 yards of each other in a neighborhood consisting of single-family houses and apartment complexes near Salem Road in the southern part of the city.

The store's computer confirmed that the winning ticket was sold by employee Babs Denham, said Stewart.

"I asked her how it felt to be holding $7 million in your hand. She said it was exciting. It's been an exciting day," said Stewart.

Stewart doubts that the winner will walk in and announce that he or she is a multi-millionaire. He speculated that "the first thing they did was call a lawyer and take care of things like find a safe-deposit box or something."

Otto said it took the Lottery's computer about two hours to come up with the winning number.

"It's called `culling.' It depends on the number of tickets sold and the number of bets," Otto said, adding that bets totaling about $3 million had been sold since the previous drawing.

Otto said the Virginia Lottery offices will be open today even though it is a state holiday - Presidents' Day.

"The banks will be closed because of the holiday, so winners will have to wait until Tuesday to get their money, but they can get their tickets validated on Monday," she said.

Otto also advises the winner to sign the ticket and write his or her name and address on the back because anyone possessing the ticket can claim the jackpot.

In addition to the one big winner, 139 people matched five of six numbers and will receive $766, Otto said. She said 5,873 correctly matched four of six numbers and will get $39. A free ticket will go to each of the 85,265 people who matched three of six numbers.

Otto said the state sold three million Lotto tickets last week, and almost half - 1.4 million - were sold Saturday setting a new sales record.